by Sean Kane
This isn’t Bo Schembecler’s Michigan and it’s not Llyod Carr’s, either. It’s a talent loaded soon to be spread offense super force in the Big Ten. The record doesn’t show it, but the film and numbers do.
While the Blue and maize posted a loss to ND on Saturday, they showcased a couple of things worth serious note. The first and foremost being that the RichRod era is just beginning. Despite the turnovers, six in all, four in the second half, handing a ND defense a game they didn’t earn in the first half, Michigan showed some promise. While Notre Dame jumped out to a quick first quarter lead the Wolverines were able to battle back with an offense that has the patented Rich Rodriguez thrill written all over it.
All in all, the Blue dominated the Irish by the numbers. 388 total yards of offense to the Irish’s 260, ten more minutes of possession, seven more conversions to create first down opportunity and a quarte
rback in Threet that didn’t throw two picks like Jimmy Clausen did. It’s hard to win a game though when you fumble the ball four times and a backup QB throws two picks in the 4th quarter. So the execution wasn’t there for Michigan but I’ll tell you what was. A passing game that proves a freshman quarterback can get the job done in the spread offense. No, he doesn’t have wheels like Pat White did but he’s 6’6″ and can see the whole field, a key to the spread offense, always move the ball, which he did completing 16 of 23 and having a couple key carries to move along and generate some long drives. He finished the day with a passer rating over just over 147. The kid is nineteen; Stephen Threet looked good enough to be Rodriguez’s man in Ann Arbor for the next couple years, forget Sheridan. But he wasn’t the whole show.
Sam McGuffie (picture below) is the name, hurdling is the game. He’s like a hybrid superback. He’s electrifying and ridiculously hard to tackle. He’s already a YouTube celebrity and has numerous highlight reels, mixtapes and clips of him from his 6,000 plus yard rushing career in High School. In Texas, he was famous for his hurdling of naïve tacklers who thought the knees were the answer. He clears dudes jumping at least 40 inches in the air at times (go waste some time on youtube, it’s worth it.) but his talent has translated to the nest level in a serious way. He showed some potential in the Miami, Ohio game and blew up today. Now, the ND defensive backs proved they can’t tackle anything letting guys slide through constantly but this kid looked good, real good, better than Steve Slaton good and not just against the poor tackling..
The numbers alone speak for themselves on 30 touches he had 178 yards of offense and a TD, that’s almost half of the Wolverine’s effort, but it was simply watching the kid that made you say, “whoa.” (and he is a kid, a true freshman.)
On a 2nd quarter reception for short yardage he took it forty yards down the field busting through the secondary, shaking grabs and seeing every single seam in the field, which allowed him to really never have a worry about getting taken down The YAC seemed to last almost 20 seconds because he wasn’t moving with breakaway speed. He was simply finding a way to stay standing. It was like the kid knew where the defense would be before the defense even knew. It wasn’t sheer speed like a Devin Hester or power like Marion the Barbarian, nor agility like the Reggie Bush of ’05 or even the magnetism to the end zone like LT, it was a football sense that showed patience, an understanding of space and incredible potential. It was as if the physics of the game were programmed into his mind. If you didn’t go watch the High School clips yet, go watch them now, you’ll see what I mean. He’s one step ahead of everyone.
So, while the Blue lose to Charlie Weis and his busted knee, do not fret Michigan faithful. Everyone will lose when they fumble 4 times. Give the ball to Stephen Threet and Sam McGuffie spread the field and see what happens, I guarantee when these two freshmen get in a rhythm in Ann Arbor we’ll see a strong finish this year and a serious BCS glimmer in their young eyes come next year because let’s face it Ohio State sucks.
